I accepted every television request, every magazine request, every newspaper request, every freelance assignment - in addition to my regular job. If I could work seven days and that would yield something better than six days, there was no concern about what days I was giving up. Very goal-oriented, ambitious, very much looking at every day as a commodity of hours to be utilized for my own betterment or advancement. I want to talk to that person.' Who was that person? Next Avenue: Near the end of Tuesdays With Morrie, you wrote: 'I look back sometimes at the person I was before I rediscovered my old college professor. On the 20th anniversary of Tuesdays With Morrie, appropriately a Tuesday, I asked Albom, 58, to reflect on reconnecting with Morrie and how his weekly visits to his dying professor changed the essence of who he is.

People really seem to connect with Dad, despite the cultural divide.' Morrie's younger son, Rob, a Tokyo-based journalist, has traveled around Asia doing Q & A's after its performances and says, 'The response to the play in Asia - especially China - has been remarkable. It's been translated into some 45 languages, spawned an Oprah-produced made-for-TV movie and a play that continues to be staged around the globe. Schools teach the book and Morrie's lessons. Tuesdays With Morrie became the biggest-selling memoir in the history of publishing - 15 million copies worldwide. Morrie didn't get a chance to read it before he died, but oh how his words have echoed around the globe.

Just weeks before Morrie died, Albom was able to give him the news that Tuesdays With Morrie was finally sold. Publisher after publisher rejected the book proposal. To help pay Morrie’s medical bills, Albom wrote a slim book from their recorded conversations. He then visited him on a Tuesday, then the Tuesday after that, and then weekly for the next six months as Morrie's disease progressed. After processing what his sociology professor was saying - not just that he was facing death but that he wanted to share bits of wisdom on how to live ('Learn to forgive yourself and others'), Albom summoned up the courage to call Morrie.

Mitch and morrie